The History of Ethics and Professionalism within Optometry in the United States of America 1898-2015, Part 1

Abstract

Background: The history surrounding the development of codes of ethics and other official statements of desired professional conduct adopted by the American Optometric Association (AOA) reveals the struggle optometry faced in the United States of America (USA) in establishing itself as a leading primary health care profession.
Methods: Information regarding the events and documents reported in this paper were obtained through research of the historical literature and archival material held in The Archives & Museum of Optometry at the American Optometric Association's headquarters at 243 N. Lindbergh Boulevard, St. Louis, MO; through current Association documents; and from discussions with those participating in the drafting of the more recent updates to the Association’s ethical statements; codes, oaths, standards, and resolutions. This writing is an update to an earlier paper by the author, The history of ethics in the American Optometric Association 1898-1994. J Am Optom Assoc 1994; 65:427-444, which was written to celebrate the 50th anniversary of the then current Code of Ethics of the AOA. An additional purpose of this present writing is to help the reader understand, from a historical perspective, some of the driving forces and imperatives for the advancement of optometry’s professional stature.
Results: Forces outside as well as within the profession were found to have influenced the drafting and redrafting of the official ethical and professional conduct statements meant to guide the professional behavior of the membership of the AOA.
Conclusions: Ethical codes and other statements of desired conduct have been essential to the establishment of the profession of optometry. As optometry has grown and matured as a provider of primary eye and vision care services, so have its ethical emphases. To further understand the ethical and legal challenges for optometry as it worked to establish itself as a reputable profession, it is suggested the reader investigate in more detail the information provided in the references. Any views expressed in this paper are those of the author and do not necessarily reflect the views of the American Optometric Association.